Three years after the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, where 19 students and 2 teachers were killed, the Texas Senate on Monday approved the “Uvalde Strong” School Safety Act. The legislation is aimed at improving the way police, emergency medical personnel, and other first responders coordinate during active shooter events.
The bill, authored in the House by former Uvalde mayor and current Representative Don McLaughlin, and carried in the Senate by Pleasanton Senator Pete Flores, is designed to foster better interagency cooperation during crises. Its intent is to prevent the kind of chaotic response seen during the Robb Elementary shooting, where confusion and lack of coordination prompted a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.
That investigation revealed alarming failures: 77 minutes passed between the arrival of the first police officers and the moment the gunman was confronted and killed. The FBI reports the national average response time for active shootings is approximately three minutes. On that day in Uvalde, around 400 officers from various local, county, and state agencies—including a sheriff and two police chiefs—responded, yet no one appeared to be in command.
